Winter Nights
by Hatsu Yukiya
Summary: While out playing in the snow, the Overland siblings unwittingly find themselves stranded in the middle of a furious blizzard. With nothing to help along the way, Jack has to get himself and his sister safely back home without the both of them freezing to death in the process. He and Rosie sure have a lot of bad luck with winter activities... Pre-movie, Human!Jack
1. Chapter 1

"Pleeeaaaase, Mama?" Rosie Overland's wide brown eyes stared pleadingly up at her mother as she clung to her brother's arm, a desperate tone in her voice. "There's so much snow, and we haven't been able to go outside in ages!"

Mrs. Overland sighed and looked worriedly at her children. Rosie did have a point; what with the way the weather had been lately, there hadn't been anything for them to do aside from sit inside by the fire and wait for the recent storms to pass. It hadn't exactly done wonders for her seven-year-old daughter, and Jack wasn't faring much better. Even at sixteen years of age he had the energy of a small child, trouble with sitting still, and absolutely despised having to stay indoors for long stretches of time. He was clearly just as anxious to get outside as Rosie was. But at the same time...

"I just don't know," she said. "The weather really has been awful lately and I'm wondering if it's all that safe. The blizzards could pick back up again at any time and I don't want the two of you caught in it all by yourselves. Are any of the other children going with you?"

"We probably couldn't convince any of them if we tried, it's freezing," Jack answered with unabashed honesty. "But I swear we'll be fine. We won't go out too far and we'll come back in if it starts to snow too heavily."

"But the hills you use for sledding are well outside the village," Mrs. Overland pointed out. "How do you know you'll even make it back in time?"

"You're assuming it'll even start blizzarding in the first place," Jack countered. "It's a nice day, the nicest we've had in a long time. The clouds are even breaking up and all that's left is snowbanks. It is still cold but if we dress warmly enough then it won't be a problem, right?"

Mrs. Overland remained silent and he suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"_Mother_," Jack said in the sardonic tone of voice he used when exasperated, "I'm not going to let anything happen. We'll be careful and I promise I'll watch out for Rosie, so what's there to worry about? We do this all the time. Just trust me a little."

She sighed. "I know, I do trust you. But you can't blame me for worrying." After another long moment of consideration, Mrs. Overland waved her hand in the air. "Fine! But you have to promise me that-"

She was interrupted by the two children cheering and slapping hands before hurrying to get into their warm things. Deciding to just concede defeat she sat down heavily in a chair and said, "Jackson, make sure you put your boots on. You're not going out barefoot or in your church shoes."

"I know!" he called over, hastily lacing up his boots and swinging his cloak over his shoulders before helping Rosie with hers. "Mother, it's just sledding. Nothing too extrenuous."

"I have the right to worry," Mrs. Overland told him dryly. "Now, you two, promise me you'll come back in the moment it starts to get dark or snow. If you're not back by then I'll send your father out to drag you back here himself."

"We promise," Rosie replied happily, slipping her hand into Jack's and bouncing excitedly. She looked up at her brother, "Right Jack?"

"Right," he agreed, and grinned as she began pulling him towards the door. They turned and waved goodbye to their mother, who wearily waved back with a small smile. Her children were too energetic for their own good. She stood and followed them to the door and watched them run off with happy smiles on their faces.

"Be safe!" she called out.

Jack turned and waved again, tripping slightly in the snow. "We will!"

Mrs. Overland cast one final look up at the heavy grey clouds gathering overhead, before shutting the door and blocking the cold outside. They'd be fine. Jack had promised, and he was good at upholding his word. She trusted him. Now all the woman had to do was wait for them to get back.

* * *

**A/N:**

**First chapters are never very good, huh? I promise it'll get better. **

**Anyway. Human!Jack! Yay. I can never get enough of that kid. Also, Jack's sister's name is not Pippa. If anyone tells me to change it I may have to kill you. No hard feelings. I can't imagine this story will be very long, likely ten chapters or less, I just got the idea and had to get it out. If anyone has any suggestions for anything that could happen in here I'd be more than happy to hear them because fuck, I can't plan anything in advance.**

**Thank you for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

"If you don't hurry up, it'll be nighttime by the time we get up to the hills," Jack joked to Rosie, who was several feet behind him and struggling to match his pace. "The only thing to do then will be to turn around and head right back home."

She frowned. "You're going too fast. I can't keep up!"

"I'm pulling the sled and everything. Maybe you're just slow."

Rosie pouted and he turned to grin at her, slinging his ever-present shepherd's staff over his shoulder. "I'm just kidding. I'd pull you if it wouldn't take longer, but I'll try to go slower anyhow."

"Thank you," she mumbled, and sped up one final time to latch onto the hem of Jack's cloak. She was able to keep up a quicker pace in the deep snow which was easily up to her knees that way, and soon the two siblings were well out of the Burgess township and traipsing through the woods, the familiar wooden houses out of sight and replaced by the increasingly thick trees.

It was always a long walk whenever they wanted to go sledding, but the that lied about thirty minutes away from town were sparsely wooded and steep enough to go as fast as the two liked. The long walk all but guaranteed that they would be alone, since it was difficult to find any friends who wanted to make the trek with them, but Jack and Rosie honestly preferred it that way. Hardly anyone in the village enjoyed winter as much as they did and while it left them at a bit of a loss when it came to big games, it did leave them all the snow to play in as they liked.

A hike that would normally take around twenty to thirty minutes on a warmer day was now stretched to nearly forty-five, and the two siblings were well out of breath by the time they reached their destination, the hills outside of Burgess. There were a few slopes closer to the village, of course, but they were far too small and woodsy to be of any real use to the more adventurous Overlands. They left those to the younger and far less committed children. They trudged to the top of a particularly promising one and paused to catch their breath, observing their surroundings.

"What do you think?" Jack asked. "Is this a good spot?"

"It's further than usual," Rosie noted, "but higher, and there are less trees. It's great!"

"Excellent. You ready then, little lady?"

Rosie giggled and nodded excitedly, bouncing on her heels. Jack smiled and pulled the sled forward, positioning it properly so they could get on. It wasn't an elaborate piece of equipment, just flat with a curved end and a lead of twine really, but the Overland siblings still loved it all the same. It went fast enough and though it wasn't like the fancy ones that could be steered, Jack had figured out how to use his shepherd's staff to control the direction they went.

Jack sat down first to prevent it from sliding way and got himself positioned before motioning for Rosie to sit in front of him. Once she was settled, he pushed them forward and in a few moments the two were whizzing down the hill, laughing and yelling in dodged around a few trees and rocks, Jack thrusting his staff into the ground to change direction. The scenery flashed by in a blur of white and brown until finally the sled came to a stop at the base of the hill, just at the edge of the forest.

Jack and Rosie were breathless from the ride and laughing far too hard to catch their breath, but nevertheless climbed to their feet and faced each other with red faces and wide smiles.

"Again?" was all Jack managed to say, doubled over with his hands on his knees.

Rosie nodded wordlessly, still giggling. Jack stood, brushed himself off, and helped her to her feet before they took off running up the hill again. The next ride was just as good as the first and once they started it was impossible to stop. Again and again they went, enjoying how it felt to finally be outside again and not cooped up in their small house while storms raged outside. One time they took a break to have a snowball fight and catch their breath properly, but that didn't last long before they started up again once more.

The two siblings didn't notice the long passage of time until two or so hours later they had to bail off the sled to avoid crashing, and found themselves lying flat on their backs on the soft, snow-covered ground. Jack looked up at the sky and frowned at the dark grey clouds as a few heavy, fat snowflakes began to fall.

"I've just noticed it's getting late," he said with an air of disappointment. "We'd better head in, Mother will have our heads if we're not back before nightfall. It's starting to snow, too."

Rosie whined. "One more run? Please?"

He bit his lip and looked back to the top of the hill, back to the sky, and then in the direction of Burgess. With a sigh, he replied, "Sure. Just one, though. We'll have to hurry home after that."

It was just one run. What was the harm in it? He smiled when Rosie cheered and snatched up the lead for the sled and began the trek back up to the hilltop, pulling Jack by the hand behind her. They made it back to the top in record time and got Rosie situated on the sled.

Jack put his staff in her hands and instructed, "You know what to do, don't you? If you want to turn, stick it in the snow to the right or left as you're going down. You have to do it pretty hard if you want it to work, and-"

"I know, I know!" Rosie cut in. "I can do it!"

He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Alright then. Just say when you're ready and I'll push you off."

She squirmed a little to get comfortable in her seat, took the lead, and announced, "I'm ready!"

With a firm shove Rosie went flying down the hill, a small speck against the white backdrop in mere seconds. Jack's smile widened when he heard her distant squeal of laughter, and he began the walk down to the bottom to meet her when she stopped. At the rate she was going, she'd end up well into the woods by the time the sled quit moving.

His stomach dropped when he noticed she was speeding straight for one of the trees they'd avoided earlier.

"Rosie, turn! _Turn!" _Jack shouted, breaking into a sprint.

He heard the little girl holler in surprise and do her best to jam his staff into the ground. The sled swerved sharply, thankfully avoiding the tree but picking up speed in return. In a few seconds, without slowing down in the slightest, she flew over a previously-unseen jump and disappeared into the forest at the foot of the hills.

Jack sped up, half running, half sliding down the hill and nearly tripping and falling a few times. Panting heavily, he hurried into the forest, following the trail the sled left. He stopped and looked around. There was no doubting that Rosie had come in here, but the tracks ended suddenly and she was nowhere in sight. It was eerily quiet in the dimming light and falling snow.

"Rose?" he called out, and was met with silence. Louder, "_Rosie?!_"

A muffled cry came from somewhere off to his left, "Jack!"

Jack turned and ran in the direction of the voice, charging through the underbrush before he came across his sister lying half-hidden in a bush at the base of a sturdy tree, no sled in sight. He hurried forward and pulled her out, carefully pulling back the branches so they wouldn't hurt her any more. Rosie was covered in little cuts and her lip was bleeding, but she seemed otherwise unhurt at first glance.

"Owww..."

"You alright?" Jack asked worriedly, brushing snow out of her hair and face.

Rosie nodded and spat out a mouthful of blood, grimacing. "Look," she said, opening her mouth. Jack wasn't sure whether to laugh or be even more concerned about her when he noticed a gap near the front of her teeth.

"You knocked a tooth out," he said flatly, forcing down a smile. "Imagine that."

"When I hit the tree," she replied, feeling the gap with her tongue. "But it doesn't hurt much."

"That's good. It's not like it won't grow back, though." Jack glanced around. "We're not going to find it in the snow, too bad. You're not getting anything under your pillow."

"I don't care. I just want to go home."

Jack grabbed her hands and tried to pull her to her feet, but the moment she put weight on she cried out in pain and collapsed back, tears rising in her eyes.

"What's the matter?!"

"M-My leg," she whimpered, gingerly massaging her ankle. "It didn't hurt so bad until just now but it twisted when I fell, I think."

"Oh boy," Jack sighed. Things were just getting more complicated for them, weren't they? He bit his lip, thinking of the scolding they were sure to get from their parents when they finally got home. He'd take the blame, as usual, but they'd both get punished anyway. He smiled grimly. That was usually how it went when he and Rosie returned home far more battered than expected. For now, though, he had to focus on actually getting home.

"Where's the sled?" he asked, and Rosie pointed off to the side.

"I went over a tree root and it flipped me off," she explained shakily, making an impressive effort to not burst into tears. "I think it flew over there."

Jack put his arm around her and helped her up more gently, making sure she kept her weight off her foot. They slowly hobbled over to where she had directed, and Jack slowly lowered her to the ground again before searching the bushes she had pointed to. Eventually he managed to uncover and drag the sled out. He stood and looked down at it; it hadn't fared well in the crash at all, twisted and broken and, well, rather destroyed. It had been old and not of very good quality to begin with, and it sure showed here, judging by how easily it'd been snapped in a single fall. His staff, miraculously, was with it and had survived the carnage in one piece.

"Well, we need a new one of these," Jack commented casually, raising his eyebrows and nudging the splintered mess with his foot.

Rosie made a funny high-pitched noise. "Mama's not gonna let us out again until spring," she sniffed, leaning on Jack more heavily to keep her balance. Jack wrapped an arm around her shoulders to stop her swaying and hummed in concentration.

"I was going to pull you back on the sled, but that option's out now," he frowned. "How far do you think you'd be able to walk?"

Rosie gingerly lowered her injured foot to the ground and leaned on it a bit, but gasped sharply when pain shot through her leg and her knee threatened to buckle under the weight. She grit her teeth and choked out, "Not far at all."

Jack sighed. "I'll have to carry you then, huh?"

She sniffled again and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry..."

"Hey, it's not your fault. We'll just get back home later than expected, and Mother will chew us out all the worse for it, but in the end it's not a big deal. Don't blame yourself, alright?"

Jack smiled reassuringly at his sister and bent down to her level, allowing Rosie to climb onto his back and wrap her arms securely around his neck. He scooped up his staff and with a grunt of effort, he pushed himself off the ground and straightened up, taking a deep breath and looking around at their surroundings. With a sudden, unpleasant jolt of surprise, he realized that they had gone much further than originally assumed, and combining that with the increasingly heavy snowfall, he only had the vaguest idea of where they were.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Funny how the closer I get to finishing a chapter, the lazier I become and rush through everything. In any case, have another (laaame) chapter. The fun can start now. For anyone who was wondering, the Guardians **_**will**_** have a role to play in this story. You'll just have to wait and see, my lovelies. **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed. It means the world to me. Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

_ Crap._

Jack knew his way around the areas surrounding Burgess. He and Rosie spent an awful lot of time outside, and with his family's shepherding profession you kind of had no choice than to know the terrain inside and out. But normally he and his sister didn't go out so far, especially in winter, and the falling snow and increasingly darkening sky wasn't helping. Why did night have to come so early in winter? The fact that Rosie had gotten knocked pretty far off-course when she crashed was just making things worse. Also, she was hurt, it was freezing, and he had to carry her through knee-deep snow. All in all, this was shaping up to be a pretty bad situation.

Jack hesitated, trying to decide what he should do. The number one rule of being lost was to stay put until you're found by whoever's looking for you. But there was still some daylight, and he wasn't _entirely_ lost. Sure, he might not have seen this area of the woods before, but he could easily retrace his steps and find some familiar landmarks. The thing he was most concerned about at the moment was making sure Rosie wasn't scared or uncomfortable.

The two siblings shook from the cold as the wind picked up, and that's when Jack made his decision. He began walking in the direction they had come, following his previous footsteps back to the edge of the forest. The snow began falling harder, and Jack was needing to shield his eyes by the time they made it out of the trees.

Rosie was shivering violently on his back and he could hear her teeth chattering.

"You alright back there?" he asked, barely suppressing a shudder himself.

"Y-yes," she answered, "I'm f-fine..."

Jack gently lowered her to the ground and turned to face her.

"I didn't believe a single word of that," he told her calmly. He undid the clasp holding his cloak on his shoulders, pulled it off, and swung it over to cover her instead. It was much larger than Rosie's own, completely covering the smaller cloak and falling nearly to her knees.

She looked up at him with wide, worried eyes. "B-But you'll freeze!"

"Nah, I'll be fine," he said, forcing himself not to start shivering on the spot. "I'm more used to the cold, and we're going to be home soon anyway."

Lying to a seven-year-old wasn't on the list of things he was most proud of, but Jack pushed the doubt to the back of his mind and bent down again to pick Rosie up. Once she was secure he set off again, trudging through the increasingly deep snow. They headed back into the forest once more, following the footsteps from earlier that day, but Jack noted with dread that they had either been almost entirely swept away by the wind or were being rapidly filled up with snow. Night had almost entirely fallen by now, and Jack began cursing his own stupidity.

Why couldn't they have noticed the sky earlier and left then? Why did he have to agree on Rosie's final solo run? If he hadn't, they'd likely be back home by now and his little sister wouldn't be practically blue with cold and crippled by a badly sprained ankle. Jack's heart sank when he thought about their mother. She worried about them more than he usually thought was necessary, so how would she react when night fully fell, when the blizzards began, and her children were still missing? Pretty soon the weather would be too bad for her to send their father out looking for them.

..Speaking of the weather, it was becoming increasingly difficult to see.

"Jack, you're shivering."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are! Take your cloak back!"

"No. I don't need it."

"Jaaack!"

"I'm fine!"

He wiped water out of his eyes and continued to trudge forward, mechanically putting one foot in front of the other as he trudged through the snow. Rosie fell silent, though he could tell she was unhappy. He was too; it was honestly rather impossible not to be. It really was freezing out there, though Jack would never admit it out loud, and it was very wet and hard to move and he was rapidly getting exhausted. His arms were beginning to ache from holding Rosie up (she didn't weigh much, but he truthfully wasn't that physically strong) and though he would never admit it, he was sure he'd be frozen solid soon enough. He didn't regret giving his sister his cloak, but that didn't mean he didn't still want one.

Nonetheless, Jack pushed himself forward, trying to get as far as possible until he was forced to concede defeat. He managed to make it a few hundred more yards before that happened, and he had to stop to catch his breath a couple times. The snow was much thicker now and he could barely see ten feet ahead of them, only just able to make out the shapes of the surrounding trees. Eventually he stopped for good, tired out and more than worried about himself and his sister. What were they going to do?

"Jack?" Rosie spoke up when he didn't start walking again after a few moments, straining to be heard over the wind, "Why have we stopped?"

Jack took a deep breath and shifted uncomfortably. He was going to have to tell his sister the truth sooner or later, and seeing as they clearly wouldn't be going anywhere for a while, now would probably be the time for that.

"Ro, I'm going to be completely honest with you here and I need you to not panic," he instructed. He felt more than saw her nod, and continued, "We're a bit lost. We're not going to get home tonight."

"What?!" Rosie exclaimed, "But what are we going to do?!"

"Well, find a place to sleep and work our way home in the morning. We can't do anything with this snow, and it's too dark anyway."

She whimpered and buried her face in his shoulder. "Mama's going to be so angry..."

"I know," Jack sighed. "But I'm sure she'll understand in the end. Father, too. For right now though, we need to find a place to stop."

"Are we going to find a cave?"

The sixteen-year-old let out an awkward laugh. "I was thinking more along the lines of burrowing down in a snowbank."

"...What," Rosie repeated flatly. "Are you joking?"

"No. Isn't that what you're supposed to do if there's no shelter in a blizzard? If you dig yourself a little snow cave you'll be perfectly fine. That's what they say, anyway, so it's probably our best chance."

Jack looked back and smiled at the little girl, suppressing another shiver as he did so. "Remember when Father took us on that hunting trip on time? We slept outside then."

"That was in the summer," Rosie pointed out. "It's different! It was warm and there wasn't any snow then."

"That's true," Jack agreed. "But I bet when we get our little cave dug out and we're huddled up inside it, it'll be pretty warm even if it is made of snow. We'll keep each other warm."

He looked around the woods, squinting through the snow and brushing his sopping bangs out of his eyes. Snow piled up around the trees, which was good for them, now they just needed a big enough one to shelter them from the storm. Seeing as they were in a forest, it didn't take too long, and after a few moments Jack declared "A-ha!" and began working his way over to the one he chose. It was certainly a wide tree; he and Rosie could probably sit side-by-side at the base and not be seen, which was what he'd been aiming for. They could face away from the wind and be protected, and probably not be buried.

Jack set Rosie down again and she leaned against another nearby tree to keep her balance while he began digging, hollowing out an opening large enough for them to curl up in. He helped her in and put his arm around her, both curling their feet in to prevent them from sticking out.

"We're going to be fine," Jack said.

Rosie sneezed. "Promise?"

Jack looked out from their makeshift shelter into the heavy snow and pulled his little sister closer.

"Yeah. I promise."

* * *

It was late when Mr. Overland finally arrived home. He hadn't meant to stay out so long helping fix repairs at the small church on the outskirts of town, but once the storm had picked up, he and the other men decided to simply stay at the church until it was safe to head to their respective homes. The snowfall hadn't lessened in the slightest, but the wind had died down at this point so Mr. Overland bid farewell to the others and began the slow trek to his home on the opposite side of the village.

It was late enough when he arrived that he expected the lights to be put out, or dimmed at least. Jack and Rosie would usually be asleep at this time. Thus, he was not expecting to open the door and see his wife slumped over the table in the brightly-lit main room with her head buried in her arms, no children in sight. Her head snapped up when the door opened and he walked in, and he in turn was surprised to see how distraught she looked, with her hair mussed and an expression that indicated she was about to burst into tears.

"They didn't come home," she said in a dead whisper.

He blinked. "What?"

"The children!" his wife exclaimed, burying her face in her hands once more. "They went out to play earlier this afternoon and they haven't come back! Jack promised, he promised they would be home before nightfall and they would come back the moment it started to snow, and it's been hours since it began!"

"Calm down, calm down," Mr. Overland said soothingly, though he felt the beginnings of worry as he watched her hysteria. "I'm sure they're fine. Maybe they're walking right now and will be home soon. You never know!"

"But it's been _hours_ since the snow began, and it's practically storming again now!"

Tears welled up in Mrs. Overland's eyes and she continued, "They can't be walking in this weather, it's too bad! You can barely see outside!" Her eyes widened in horror. "What if they are walking, and they're lost and don't know where to go? What if they're hurt?"

She groaned and collapsed back onto her chair. Her husband walked up and put his arm around her as she mumbled, "You have to go find them. They didn't take mittens or anything, they must be freezing to death right now whether they're walking or not."

"It's alright," Mr. Overland said. "Jack is a smart boy, you know that. He'd never do anything that would put himself or Rosie in danger. I'll go out and look for them as soon as the weather calms down, but right now it's too dangerous to go outside."

He hated himself for saying that. He wanted to charge out and bring his son and daughter home safely just as much as his wife wanted him to, and hated that he wasn't able to. It was just not a good idea to go out into a blizzard. Odds were he'd get lost as well, and then where would they be? Mr. Overland sighed heavily. All he could do was comfort his wife and wait for the wind and swirling snow to die down.

"Jack's a smart boy," he said again, "and Rosie is a clever one as well. They'll be fine."

Mrs. Overland sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I know...I know. It's just, Rose is so small and gets sick so easily, and Jack... he is smart, you're right, he just forgets how to be responsible sometimes..."

"Don't worry too much," Mr. Overland told her, forcing soothing confidence into his voice and pulling her close to kiss her hair. "I'm sure everything will work out. We'll get them back soon; the blizzard has to die down at some point."

The couple fell silent, staring at the flickering fire on the hearth as the storm raged outside.

Unbeknownst to them, a tiny green bird-like fairy had pulled herself out from underneath Rosie's pillow, having been confused as to why there was no tooth there when it was certain the child had lost one that day. The fairy listened to the parent's conversation in abject horror before taking off into the storm, braving the wind and heavy snow to make it back to the Tooth Palace.

Children were in trouble. The Guardians needed to know.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Dun dun dun. **

**I should be updating other things. Whatever.**


	4. Chapter 4

Jack hadn't meant to fall asleep. When he and Rosie curled up against each other in their makeshift snow cave, his intention had been to stay up and let his sister rest while he stayed awake and kept watch. But the exhaustion from the day's stress and activity, coupled with the fact that the little cave was much warmer than he expected it to be, seemed to be working against him. As night and snow fell around them, Rosie's breathing eventually evened out and she fell asleep, Jack following soon after.

He had strange dreams as he slept. He was looking upwards at the moon, which was barely visible through the snow being tossed about by the wind. One pale hand stretched out, reaching for the moon, but in a moment he was falling and darkness swarmed around, engulfing Jack in darkness. It was suffocating and terrifying. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move. The cold chilled him to the bone, switching to uncomfortable heat in a split second. Throughout all this the darkness stayed constant. He was blind, falling into the inky void with no way to pull himself back up.

It felt like drowning.

Jack tried to pull himself out, to no avail, but then he felt himself being shaken back and forth. A sound broke through the darkness, and he could only barely make out his name.

"Jack! _Jack!"_

The darkness began to fade away, and Jack cracked his eyes open to find himself looking up into Rosie's worried brown ones.

"...Ro?" he groaned, pushing himself into a sitting position. "Are you alright?"

"I woke up because my foot hurt and you were making all these noises," she answered quietly. "And it was really hot in here even though it's made out of snow, and..." Her voice pitched in panic, "And Jack, I think we're buried!"

Jack woke up completely then and fully sat up as best he could. He had to hunch over more than he remembered needing to the previous night. The walls of the cave were hard, but sunken, and his and Rosie's feet were covered in snow. There was no opening in sight, and the light was so dim they could barely see. The air was hot and thick, and Jack realized with a jolt that they _were _buried. The entrance had caved in overnight and they were running out of air.

"Don't panic," he said immediately, swallowing nervously. His throat felt rough and dry, but he ignored it. "Take deep breaths. We're going to be alright."

It was funny how often he'd said that over the past day or so. He meant it every time. He was going to get them home, and to do that he had to get them out of this situation first.

"We're going to have to dig out, I think," Jack said to Rosie, forcing confidence into his voice. "Keep calm. Don't panic no matter how much snow falls on us, okay?"

Rosie nodded wordlessly and Jack smiled before bracing his hands against the sunken roof of the cave. It was solid and icy under his touch, but with one good push it began to give way. Snow fell down in small clumps onto their heads and the little girl brushed it away with a grimace. One more push and the roof gave way, sending snow falling in a small avalanche onto their heads. For a moment they couldn't see or breath, until Jack hurried and stood up in the deep snow, stumbling slightly as he reached down and grabbed Rosie's arm, hauling her to her feet. She latched onto his vest to keep from falling again, whimpering when she put weight on her injured leg. After bending down to quickly dig his staff out if the ruins Jack half carried, half dragged her away from the ruined cave, wiping snow off her face and shoulders as they went.

"You all right?" he asked, swallowing a dry cough. His throat itched worse than before but he continued to ignore it, still more concerned with his sister than himself.

Rosie clutched Jack's cloak tighter around her shoulders and shivered. "I-I'm alright, but..."

She bit her lip and looked around nervously, and Jack did the same. They could hardly see a few yards in all directions, the snow was falling so heavily. The wind was not helping, stinging and chilling the two worse than the snow would on its own. "What do we do now?"

"Honestly?" Jack's shoulders sagged and he raised his voice to be heard over the wind, "I don't know. I was going the weather would have calmed down by now, but no such luck."

Rosie's response was so soft Jack had to bend down to hear her. "Jack, I'm scared. It's so cold and I want to go home."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I know, me too. But we're going to get out of this eventually."

"What do we do _now_, though?"

"Right now?" Jack glanced around again, and decided to just flop against the nearest tree, nestling against the stiff wood and situating Rosie beside him and his staff on the other side. "Right now, we just wait."

* * *

Nicholas St. North was honestly not used to getting visitors all that often. He had his fellow Guardians as friends, of course, but they rarely interacted and the last time they had all been together as a group was during the Dark Ages, after they had cast Pitch Black back into the shadows where he belonged, for good. The Nightmare King had been getting far too influential and shamelessly abused his powers to the point where the Man in the Moon asked the Guardians to replace him. Pitch had been furious, of course, and fought back harder than was really necessary, but in the end the Guardians had prevailed.

North sighed at the memory. Now here he was, sitting comfortably in a large armchair in the North Pole while his army of yetis and elves manufactured toys and sweets for the children of the world. At least Christmas was over with already, which was why he was currently kicking back and relaxing instead of bustling around the workshop shouting orders. He was allowed to take breaks.

It was quiet in his sitting room. The year 1711 didn't really provide much in the way of entertainment, musical or otherwise, so it was easy to get lost in the silence. The silence that was soon broken by the soft humming of what sounded like wings.

North looked around, surprised, and lurched to his feet with the Tooth Fairy came fluttering in, looking worn out and anxious. He put the question of how she got in out of his mind and moved forward to speak to her.

"Hello," she greeted with a nervous smile, "Long time, no see."

"Agreed," North replied. "I did not expect to see you here. What is going on?"

Tooth shivered and shook herself, her iridescent feathers fluffing out and dispelling snowflakes. "It's very cold up here, but I had to come. There's a bit of a situation and you're the first person I thought of to tell."

The large Russian frowned in concern. "What is going on?"

"Well..." She twisted her fingers together nervously, "One of my fairies went to collect a tooth earlier tonight. Rose Catherine Overland, age seven, left lateral incisor. There's no doubt she lost it, but when my fairy went to get it, Rose wasn't there even though it's pretty late at night there and there's a big storm going through that area. But my fairy stuck around, and over heard her parents talking about... Oh, they said that she and her brother went out to play and never came back!"

"So what does this mean?" North asked slowly, though he could pretty much guess the answer from the information Tooth gave him.

"It means that right now, there are probably two children stuck outside in a blizzard with no way to get home!"

Tooth leaned into him with a desperate look. "North, I really think we should do something. With the times we're in, children get hurt and die all the time and we never get to do anything to help until it's too late. Rose and her brother could still be alive, and we have the chance to help them so I think we should take it. We could get Bunny and Sandy here too."

North thought about it, but he knew she was right. The role of the Guardians was to protect children. Not just the group as a whole, but each and every individual child. They didn't get to fully carry out their jobs a lot of the time, and it hurt every time they failed. Knowing they had failed their duty. Now they had the chance to do something right, so they had to take it. Besides, Tooth had flown all the way to Santoff Clausen from her domain. The fact that she had made it so quickly was a testament to her conviction.

"I agree," North nodded finally, and Tooth's face broke into a huge relieved smile. "We have to save them, if we still can."

"Thank you so much," Tooth laughed giddily, back to her usual perky self. "We have to do this right!"

"I'll go send out the signal, then. Bunny and Sandy should be here soon."

"Great.

North turned and walked out of the room, heading to the area with the globe so he could summon the others. He had a bad feeling that they needed to hurry, otherwise it would be too late.

* * *

** A/N:**

** Of course we all know everything is going to turn out alright in the end because duh, this is pre-movie. There's a canon outcome and all that. **

** Sorry this chapter isn't utterly fantastic. Wrote this around midnight, so.**

** Anyway, thanks for reading and I'd be honored if you dropped a review :) Till next time!**


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